Michelle Lillie

The Butterfly Effect

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but we rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”

-Maya Angelou

No one likes to wait for anything. You go to the grocery store, there’s a line to check out, and you stand frustrated. You run into traffic when on the road or someone cuts you off and immediately an ugly attitude rears it’s head. You go to watch a movie on Netflix, and it takes like what seems to be centuries to upload so you give up on watching the movie because it was taking longer than minutes to upload. We live in a world where waiting is a frowned upon word, and it’s looked at as a negative thing. I want to change your idea of “waiting” and help you see that there is actually beauty and greatness to be found when you’re in a season of waiting and going through the PROCESS.

Let’s take a look at the caterpillar turning into a butterfly. Before hatching, when a caterpillar is still inside the egg developing, it grows something called imaginal discs. These imaginal discs are for each of the adult body parts that it will need to be a butterfly. Sometimes these imaginal discs remain dormant through out the caterpillar’s life but in some, they start to grow baby wings before the cocoon stage.

The caterpillar knows it’s destined to be a beautiful butterfly! It knows that it is created to FLY! In order for the caterpillar to be able to experience what it is created to be, it needs to allow itself to be in the cocoon and to go through the PROCESS.

Sometimes we know we are destined to fly, but we don’t want to go through the changes we need to go through in order to get there.

If we refuse that process then we will never grow wings, and we will remain stuck as the caterpillar knowing that we were made to be something greater!

The caterpillar was born with everything it needs in order to be what it is destined to be, but sometimes those imaginal discs stay dormant, and the caterpillar doesn’t have sight of it’s destiny.

We may not be able to see beauty or greatness within ourselves, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

We may even be walking around with baby wings, but we won’t be able to use them correctly without the process of letting ourselves develop and mature through change and growth.

“Sometimes the change we avoid the most is the change that will actually give us wings.”

Change is FAR from comfortable! Comfort zones are danger zones. If you remain in your comfort then you will never fully discover everything you can be! I have found that the times I have been pushed to go outside my comfort zonehave been the most defining times of my life! It’s in those times that you become extremely humbled.

Ask yourself. Do you think the caterpillar is comfortable in the cocoon? Do you think the caterpillar necessarily knows the end result? I’m not a caterpillar so I couldn’t tell you, 😉 BUT, if we apply this to our own lives we can learn quite a bit!

There will be times when we won’t understand why God has placed us where He has placed us, and we won’t understand the process He is bringing us through. The thought of actually making it to the other side in one piece may seem impossible.

Trust the process

God has a plan for you! He has created you for something GREAT! Don’t get discouraged if you don’t understand the process God is bringing you through. This is a time for you to be refined, molded, and shaped into the woman you are DESTINED to be!

The definition of being refined is to have impurities or unwanted elements removed through a process.

“Here then is a great truth. In the pain, the agony, and the heroic endeavors of life, we pass through a refiner’s fire. The insignificant and unimportant in our lives can melt away like dross and make our faith bright, intact, and strong.”

-James E. Faust

Before the caterpillar can start it’s process of forming the cocoon, it has to take off it’s old skinfirst. It’s literally becoming a new creation through this process! In order for us to grow in being made who God created us to be then we need to take off our old selves and old ways. This requires letting go of anything or anyone that keeps you from reaching your destiny. The caterpillar knows that in order for it to transform into a beautiful butterfly, it needs to let go and rid itself of it’s old skin. It knows it needs to be ready to experience a whole new life!

The process is beauty and greatness in disguise! In God’s perfect timing, you will come out of the process (cocoon) and be able to soar through life as the woman God created you to be! Trust that God has a plan, and He knows what you need. God has given you everything you need in order to become who you are destined to be, BUT you need to allow yourself to go through the process so that you may fully grow and mature into that woman! Don’t be afraid to experience The Butterfly Effect. The effect from the process of the caterpillar is the beautiful butterfly!